Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 249.

YOUCAT Question n. 249 - What happens in Holy Orders?

(Youcat answer) The man who is ordained receives a gift of the Holy Spirit that gives him a sacred authority that is conferred upon him by Christ through the bishop.

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 1536) Holy Orders is the sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time: thus it is the sacrament of apostolic ministry. It includes three degrees: episcopate, presbyterate, and diaconate.

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) Being a Priest does not mean just assuming an office or a ministry. Through Holy Orders a priest receives as a gift a definite power and a mission for his brothers and sisters in faith.   

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 1537) The word order in Roman antiquity designated an established civil body, especially a governing body. Ordinatio means incorporation into an ordo. In the Church there are established bodies which Tradition, not without a basis in Sacred Scripture (Cf. Heb 5:6; 7:11; Ps 110:4), has since ancient times called taxeis (Greek) or ordines. And so the liturgy speaks of the ordo episcoporum, the ordo presbyterorum, the ordo diaconorum. Other groups also receive this name of ordo: catechumens, virgins, spouses, widows,...  

(The next question is: How does the Church understand the sacrament of Holy Orders?)